Newbie here working on only my 2nd thru 4th knives right now, specializing in kitchen knives, stock removal only. All 1084 for ease of backyard heat treat. BUT... I just found a programmable kiln/oven at work that goes up to about 2200°F (1200°C), and we have an ultra low freezer that goes to about -109°F (-80°C) both which I could use on the weekend. I've already had multiple friends ask me to make custom knives and I know most people aren't as willing to care for carbon steel in the kitchen, so stainless would be a nice option.
My google-fu is weak, not finding a lot of recommendations for stainless for beginners. For ease I would like to air or plate quench for HT. Also I've been leaving the black scale on 1084 for a rustic Japanese kurouchi look, can this be replicated in stainless by HT without foil? I've looked at normalization, HT, and tempering recipes for 440c and AEB-L.
For 440c without full cryo liquid nitrogen, it looks to max at hrc 61-62. If I want 60-61 final hardness, the tempering temps seem very low (what I found on Alpha KS site). Is the only thing happening converting retained austenite to martensite, or is there another benefit? Could tempering be skipped in this case? Thanks for sharing the knowledge!
My google-fu is weak, not finding a lot of recommendations for stainless for beginners. For ease I would like to air or plate quench for HT. Also I've been leaving the black scale on 1084 for a rustic Japanese kurouchi look, can this be replicated in stainless by HT without foil? I've looked at normalization, HT, and tempering recipes for 440c and AEB-L.
For 440c without full cryo liquid nitrogen, it looks to max at hrc 61-62. If I want 60-61 final hardness, the tempering temps seem very low (what I found on Alpha KS site). Is the only thing happening converting retained austenite to martensite, or is there another benefit? Could tempering be skipped in this case? Thanks for sharing the knowledge!
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